Norge Veterinarian Fined By State Board

November 22, 1989|By RONNIE CROCKER Staff Writer

JAMES CITY (County) — A Norge veterinarian has been fined $150 and ordered to keep better inventory records following the discovery a year ago that a number of potentially addictive narcotic tablets were missing from his clinic.

Dr. Dale H. Sprenkel, operator of Noah's Ark Veterinary Hospital on Richmond Road, was fined by the Virginia Board of Veterinary Medicine because an audit in November 1988 showed 1,138 Hycodan tablets unaccounted for in his drug inventory.

George Wilbur, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Health Professions, said Sprenkel also was criticized by the veterinary board for not keeping adequate records following the reported theft of Hycodan from his clinic in early 1987. He also did not report to the board a second alleged theft of drugs that summer, Wilbur said.

Sprenkel said the drugs were taken from a locked cabinet at his clinic. He said he thinks they were taken by an employee who left before the second theft was discovered.

He also said he maintained the records in question, but they were kept in a storage shed and ruined during remodeling.

"The state wouldn't accept that as an explanation," he said.

Furthermore, he said, he did not contact the board after the second theft because the board had not shown much interest in the first case. He said he will not appeal the fine.

Police records indicate that in March 1987 Sprenkel reported that a bottle containing 500 Hycodan pills had been taken from his clinic's operating room sometime between January and March of that year, James City police Capt. Ken Middlebrook said. According to the report, only employees had access to the drugs. No one was ever charged in the case.

Sprenkel said he discussed the second case with the Commonwealth's attorney's office and decided not to file a report with police because the suspected employee had already left his clinic.

Dr. Charles C. Wolfe, a veterinarian at the James City Veterinary Clinic, compared Hycodan to codeine and said it has become popular among drug abusers. For that reason, he said, he does not keep Hycodan in stock and writes prescriptions for it when necessary.

"It's one of the hot drugs on the street, as far as illegal drugs," Wolfe said. "I don't like to have it in the building because of the possibility of break-ins."

Sprenkel said he carried the drug only to accommodate his customers, and will cut back on the number of controlled drugs he keeps at Noah's Ark. "After this whole fiasco, believe me, I'm not going to keep any controlled substances I don't have to."

According to the Physician's Desk Reference, Hycodan is a cough suppressant that "can produce drug dependence and therefore has the potential for abuse." It is used by both humans and animals, and is classified as a Schedule III controlled drug.

Drugs are classified from Schedule I to Schedule VI, according to their potency. Schedule I includes illegal drugs such as heroin, and Schedule II in cludes the most potent - and therefore most potentially addictive - legally obtainable drugs.